Kendrick Johnson, 17, was found dead in a rolled up gym mat on Jan. 11, 2013. His family says he was murdered. Officials say he suffocated accidentally while reaching for a sneaker. / Handout

by John Bacon and Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY

by John Bacon and Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY

A federal prosecutor in Georgia said Thursday he will conduct a formal review in the case of a Valdosta teen found dead in January inside a rolled-up wrestling mat at a high school gym.

U.S. Attorney Michael Moore made the announcement one day after a judge, at the request of Kendrick Johnson's parents, ordered authorities to release all surveillance video reviewed by authorities in the case. Moore said that if he determines that a criminal investigation is merited, the FBI will conduct it.

"I am committed to do everything in my power to answer the questions that exist in this case, or as many as we can," Moore said at his Macon office.

Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Kendrick's parents, told USA TODAY the late teen's family is happy that federal investigators will look into their son's death.

"They are very appreciative," said Crump of Kendrick's parents. "They just want to get through to the truth of what happened to their child."

Crump added that the parents will continue to seek answers from a local level as well. A judge's ruling yesterday means the family will get 1,900 hours worth of video from 40 school surveillance cameras from the day Kendrick went missing and the next day when his body was found, Crump said.

Next week, a judge will decide whether the family's request for a coroner's inquest will be granted, he said.

Kendrick, 17, has been at the center of a public battle between his parents and authorities since Lowndes County sheriff's investigators concluded Johnson died in a freak accident. Investigators say the teen suffocated while reaching for his sneaker.

Kendrick's family insists someone must have killed the teen.

"We are trying to find out what happened and what took place at that school," Kenneth Johnson, the teen's father, told USA TODAY last week. "The school and the sheriff's department are covering something up and we need to find out who they are covering up for."

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation disagrees. The agency is standing by an autopsy report that found Kendrick died accidentally of "positional asphyxia," said Sherry Lang, its director of public affairs.

"We have complete confidence in the medical examiner," she said.

Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson say they don't understand how a young man who ran track and played basketball and football could suffocate in a mat.

More questions came this summer when Kendrick's body was exhumed for a second autopsy. The private pathologist found that his organs were missing and that newspaper had been used to fill his body. That same pathologist ruled that Kendrick died of non-accidental blunt force trauma.

Crump, the attorney who helped focus national attention on the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, calls Kendrick's case "a real murder mystery." No investigators have explained how Kendrick would suffer head trauma in a rolled up mat.

Crump has also claimed that police officers likely contaminated the scene after finding the teen's body, that Kendrick's clothes from the day he died are missing, and that the teen's fingernails were cut after his death but the clippings have disappeared.